Orikan
]] '''Orikan', also known as Orikan the Diviner, is one of the most powerful of the Necron Crypteks, and is a potent Chronomancer. Millions of Terran years ago, he was the astromancer of the Necrontyr empire's ruling Triarch, and one of the Silent King Szarekh's most trusted counsellors. Orikan was the only one to then oppose the proposal of the C'tan Mephet'ran the Deceiver to grant the Necrontyr immortality through the process of biotransference, as he foresaw it would end in disaster, but his lone voice of dissent was ignored by the Triarch. Driven by loyalty to his race, Orikan submitted to the process and became one of the undying Necrons, forever undying and soulless in an android body of living metal. Despite the loss of his soul, the biotransference procedure had an unexpected bonus for Orikan, as his already considerable powers have only expanded after he was freed from the limitations of fallible flesh. In the late 41st Millenium, Orikan's mastery over the flow of time is such that he can actually "walk back" into the past in a limited manner, just enough to ensure his predictions never go awry. History Orikan is a consummate astromancer, able to calculate the events of the future from the patterns of the stars. Thus did he know of the Fall of the Aeldari, the Rise of Man, the Horus Heresy and the coming of the Tyranids many thousands of Terran years before they came to pass. Through careful study and scrutiny, Orikan can even divine lesser occurrences: the movement of fleets, the destinies of individuals, even the strategies undertaken by campaigning armies -- events not important enough to reshape the galaxy, but the foreknowledge of which can dramatically change the fortunes of the beholder. Though they make use of his laborious studies, few amongst Orikan's peers truly trust him. This is not altogether to do with his skills, for all Crypteks are capable of techno-sorceries that defy belief. The unease that Orikan provokes is due chiefly to the mocking scorn with which he treats the nobility of every rank, and to the knowing gleam in his eye that implies he is party to a joke that no other can perceive. Many an Overlord would dearly like to see Orikan punished for this quiet insolence. However, not only is such a course of action impolitic -- the benefits of being able to call upon Orikan's skills greatly outweigh any offence caused by his manner -- it is also almost entirely impossible. Orikan knows the plans of his rivals and enemies long before they do, and it is child's play for him to exploit such schemes to his personal advantage -- an alteration that, more often than not, involves a fatal outcome for the original plotter. Skilled astromancer though he is, Orikan's predictions are not flawless. Unforeseen events can queer his calculations, wiping out and replacing his prophesied timeline. Warp travel is a consistent aggravation, as its eddies and anarchies seem to delight in defying his predictions. Under such circumstances, to preserve his plans and reputation, Orikan is forced to employ a closely guarded set of chronomantic abilities. Travelling backwards down his own timeline, he emerges in the past at a point at which he can set his prophesied version of the future back on track, normally by having the interfering factor destroyed in some manner. In Orikan's predictions, the Imperial Navy dockyards on Helios VI should never have survived the onset of WAAAGH! Skullkrak, and did so only by an inconvenient intervention by the meddlesome Silver Skulls' 4th Company. By retroactively arranging for the Space Marines to be ambushed and nearly wiped out by Necron forces some solar weeks earlier, Orikan ensured that the destruction of Helios VI ultimately occurred as first foreseen. Thus were the Necrons able to reclaim much of the surrounding sector but, more importantly, thus was Orikan's reputation kept intact. Yet Orikan has ever been sparing of such actions, for his meddling can birth all manner of unforeseen events. As a direct result of the Helios VI affair, no less than five Space Marine Chapters, including the Death Spectres, Howling Griffons and the remainder of the Silver Skulls, descended upon the Lazar System to take revenge, utterly destroying the Tomb World from whence Orikan's original commission had come. In that case, Orikan's culpability in the disaster remained secret, but it could have easily gone otherwise. Orikan takes great care to keep his machinations hidden from his peers. Though chronomancy is a science practiced by many other Crypteks, no other is remotely capable of Orikan's feats, something that would increase a hundredfold the suspicion in which he is held. And suspicion is the last thing Orikan needs at this moment. A thousand millennia of planning and preparation are about to come to fruition, for once the stars are in the proper alignment, Orikan will finally embrace his true destiny... Notable Campaigns *'999.M41 The Carnac Campaign' – Anrakyr the Traveller arrives on a planet he supposes to be the Tomb World of Carnac, only to find it infested with Aeldari Exodites. Realising that the tomb, if it remains, will be buried too deep for him to awaken before the Exodites can themselves summon aid, Anrakyr entreats the Necron Lords and Necron Overlords of other Tomb Worlds for aid. Reinforcements arrive from Mandragora, Gidrim and Trakonn, though the most unexpected of all is a contingent from Solemnace, led by Trazyn the Infinite himself. All this takes time, however, and by the time the Night Scythe fleets deploy the invading forces, the armies of the Alaitoc Craftworld stand side by side with the Exodites. Guided by the prophecies of Farseer Eldorath Starbane and the strategies of Illic Nightspear, the Aeldari attempt to stall the Necron invasion with a series of hit-and-run attacks. Their aim is to sever the command structure by destroying Anrakyr and his closest allies, but the Pyrrhian Lord manages to subvert the prophecies of the Farseer through the astromantic analyses of Orikan the Diviner. Though Orikan's divinations are by no means as focussed as those of Starbane, they are sufficient to tangle the skeins of fate and leave many details beyond the Farseer’s reach. So it is that Pathfinders arrive at what they thought to be Anrakyr’s location, only to find him long gone and squads of Deathmarks waiting in ambush. After several inconclusive battles on Carnac’s verdant plains, Anrakyr forces the Aeldari to engage in a head-to-head confrontation by marching on the World Spirit shrine. As the tireless Necron legions advance upon its walls, Doom Scythes duel with Aeldari fighters in the skies above, Deathmarks ply a deadly trade of ambush and counter-ambush with Alaitoc Pathfinders, and all the while Flayed Ones prowl on the flanks, pouncing on any Aeldari foolish enough to show even a momentary sign of weakness. The sides are well matched, with the Necron hardiness countered by the precise strikes of the Aeldari. Victory finally falls to the Necrons when Carnac's tomb unexpectedly begins to awaken, stirred from dormancy by the tumult above. With Necron reinforcements now starting to constantly trickle into the campaign, the Aeldari have little choice but to abandon Carnac and its World Spirit to their foes. Anrakyr is grimly jubilant in the campaign’s aftermath and gladly accedes when Trazyn requests the entire World Spirit shrine as spoils of war. For his part, Orikan requests no trophy or payment for victory, and merely hopes that when the flush of victory fades, no one thinks to question the convenient coincidence of Carnac’s awakening. Wargear *'Necrodermis' - Like all Necrons, Orikan's body is built from the self-repairing living Necrodermis metal, granting him the unholy resilience common to his kind. *'Phase Shifter' - Orikan always carries a defensive Phase Shifter. This device uses a form of unknown inter-dimensional science, rendering its bearer's form as hazy and indistinct, as though they were not completely corporeal. Shots and blows can then pass through the user's mechanical Necrodermis body, meaning that even the most powerful weapons cannot harm him. This is because a Phase Shifter flickers the very fabric of its bearer into and out of a phased state as they move between dimensions. If improperly timed, even the most powerful blows and shots aimed at the bearer of a Phase Shifter instead pass through empty air. *''Staff of Tomorrow'' - This unique example of advanced Necron time manipulation technology exists a fraction of a second ahead of any given moment in the normal space-time continuum. This property allows Orikan to strike at his target an instant before the foe even moves to do so. The Staff of Tomorrow can also penetrate all known forms of infantry armour, in a similar way to a Power Weapon, further enhancing its devastating effect in melee. *'Temporal Snares' - A Temporal Snare is a Necron device that warps the fabric of space-time itself, creating a bubble of altered space-time where time flows more slowly for anyone or anything trapped within it. They are only carried by the Cryptek Orikan. Each Temporal Snare is a technologically-advanced temporal trap that can severely impede enemy movement once it is activated, whether those trapped within its field are vehicles or infantry. Thus, even when traversing the smoothest of terrains, once a snare is activated, enemy units can still find themselves moving at a snail's pace from the subjective perception of those observers outside the device's range of effect. *'Transdimensional Beamer' - Orikan always carries a Transdimensional Beamer as a sidearm. This Necron weapon was originally designed as a convenient method of banishing unwanted debris, machinery and failed experiments from Tomb Worlds and battlefields into a pocket dimension outside of the normal space-time continuum. However, a Transdimensional Beamer can be used just as easily to exile and banish foes to a long and horrifying death from starvation in the same extra-dimensional space. *'"The Stars Are Right"' - Wherever he goes, whenever he fights, there is always a chance that the stars will come into alignment and restore to Orikan a portion of ancient power. Whenever this happens, the body of Orikan coruscates with pent-up energy, and his prowess on the battlefield increases tenfold. However, such correct celestial alignments are often fleeting, and Orikan eventually powers down, sometimes mere minutes after he first received his initial empowerment. Sources *''Codex: Necrons'' (5th Edition), pp. 7, 27, 57 *''Codex: Necrons'' (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 142-143 es:Orikan Category:O Category:Necron Category:Necron Characters Category:Characters